Paragraph Skills


Dr Nyarigoti
 Lesson learning
outcomes

Students will develop a topic
sentence

 Students will provide and use

relevant ideas to support the topic
sentence

 Students will present ideas in

proper sequence
 What is a
paragraph?

 A paragraph is a group of
sentences or a single sentence
that forms a unit

 It may express an opinion,

provide information through the
use of facts and details, tell a
story or simply describe a
person, a place, an object or a
feeling
 Main idea
Before you begin
to determine
the composition of your
paragraphs, you must first
understand what the controlling
idea is in your specific piece of
writing

Choose information that will help

to support and perpetuate the
central idea throughout the
entire paper.
 Types of paragraphs
Essay
 Paragraphs
Introduce topic, identify the
Introductory focus/purpose, outline scope,
paragraphs state thesis
Topic sentence 1
Supporting details
 Body Paragraphs Concluding sentence 1

(the main part of the essay, Topic sentence 2

and is used to develop,
explain, or prove the main
idea.
Supporting details
Concluding sentence 2
Topic sentence 3
Supporting details
Concluding sentence 3

Concluding Restate thesis

paragraphs Summarize argument
Structure of a paragraph

Topic Sentence

Supporting details

Concluding sentence

Coherence
 A topic sentence

A sentence that tells the
reader the main idea of the
paragraph.

To achieve unity in your

paragraph, the sentences
should either lead to or
develop from the topic
sentence.
 A topic sentence
cont.

Should contain only one main
idea.

Should be specific and detailed.

Often found at the beginning of

the paragraph, but it can be in
other places, too.
 Supporting details

Supporting sentences develop the
topic sentence by giving:
reasons
examples
facts
statistics
quotations
 Concluding sentence

The concluding sentence marks
the end of the paragraph and
often summarises or raises the
key point of the paragraph.
 What is wrong with this
paragraph?

 I live in a house in West Provo. I
like the view from our house. We
have lived there since
November. We also have a car
that I like very much. We were
in an accident a few months
ago. We hit a deer that was
crossing the street at night. I
felt sorry for the deer, but it
cost a lot of money to repair the
car.
 Good Examples

 Through the centuries, rats have managed
to survive all our efforts to destroy them. Topic
We have trapped them and poisoned them. sentence
We have fumigated, flooded and burned
them. We have tried germ warfare. Some
rats even survived atomic bombs tests Supporting
sentence
conducted in Entwetok atoll in the pacific
after World War II. In spite of all our
efforts, these enemies of ours continue to
proof that they are the most
indestructible pests. Concluding
sentence
 Coherence

 Consistency of speech, thought, ideas,
and reasoning to make your expression
clear and easy to understand

 Every sentence should be linked to the

one before it.

 It should be presented in a sensible

order
How do I achieve Coherence?

 Pronouns – using it as a substitute to
nouns to maintain continuity of thought.
 Repetition – repeating certain words to
give coherence to writing
 Synonyms- to avoid monotony, use
similar meaning words
 Connectors – linking the sentences
together, connectors help achieve
coherence. For example, words like
moreover, however, in short, as a result,
etc.
Group work

 What have we
learnt?

 A good paragraph should have
 Topic Sentence
 Supporting details
 Concluding sentence
 Coherence
 The paragraph should have one idea-
avoid mixing ideas
 Coherence is achieved by use of
pronouns, connectors, repetition
 Methods for developing
a Paragraph

 Inductive order – moving from particular to
general,
 Deductive order – conclusion is reached by
reasoning from general laws to a particular case
 Question to answer order – beginning a
paragraph with a question and later giving the
answer. Comparison & Contrast – when two or
more things are compared or contrasted.
 Chronological method –one event leading to
another, documenting time or steps in
instructions
 Practice exercise
selected a topic for
 In the last class, you
your essay, You also wrote a thesis
statement, and did an outline.

 Choose one idea from the outline and

write a well-structured paragraph using
the skills learnt in this class.